The present invention is generally directed to circuit breakers, and in particular, to an improved circuit breaker assembly designed to prevent two cooperating circuit breakers from simultaneously being in the ON position. The present invention is also directed to techniques for modifying a multiple circuit breaker load center to accommodate a variety of circuit breaker configurations. Lastly, the invention is directed to an improved box, and in particular, a rainproof enclosure construction and method of making same.
Circuit breaker assemblies comprising, for example, two back fed main breakers (one line from a standard utility and one line from a generator) are well known in the art. At least one known attempt has been made to construct an assembly such that it is impossible for both circuit breakers to be in the ON position at the same time. Such an inhibiting assembly is typically constructed to permit both circuit breakers to be in the OFF position, while also ensuring that one of the two breakers will always be in the OFF position when the other of the two breakers is in the ON position. However, the known circuit breaker assembly is less than desirable for its lack of adaptation to an assembly in which the two circuit breakers are in facing alignment. That is, the known assembly uses an inhibiting assembly which is only applicable wen the circuit breakers are in a side by side arrangement in which the switches thereof move in the SAME direction to be both ON or to be both OFF.
The circuit breaker assembly art is also deficient for its inability to provide a load center assembly that can easily accommodate a plurality of circuit breaker arrangements with only minimal modifications thereto. That is, for example, to modify a state of the art eight-circuit breaker assembly so as to only accept six operational circuit breakers, it is currently necessary to machine cut a portion of the stab terminal assembly so as to avoid an inadvertent coupling of additional breakers. Because of the different needs of different users, it is desirable to incorporate a rejection arrangement during the molding process of a load center assembly to custom design it to accept varying circuit breaker arrangements and eliminate difficult machining processes to accomplish this result. To date a technique for providing this feature is absent in the art.
Also deficient in the circuit breaker art is the ability to construct a rainproof enclosure that overcomes the problem of water leakage. Presently, the known enclosures which are typically of a three piece construction, will allow water to creep in at the edges. This is due to the construction of the enclosure itself.
Accordingly it is desirable to provide circuit breaker assemblies and circuit breaker enclosures that overcome the aforementioned deficiencies. In particular, it is desirable to provide an inhibiting assembly which can easily be incorporated into a circuit breaker assembly where the circuit breakers are in facing alignment and which inhibits the breakers from simultaneously being on. It is also desirable to mold a saddle assembly which satisfies an end user's needs in a more economical and efficient manner. Lastly, it is desirable to provide a rainproof enclosure construction that eliminates water seepage. The invention disclosed herein achieve the aforementioned and below mentioned objectives.